Apparently It Isn't The Thought

I'm with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Of course, you all know by now that President Obama's gift to Brown was a 25 DVD collection of classic American movies.
I'm assuming the collection came from Blockbuster. I mean, where else do those boxed sets come from?
The Prime Minister's gift to President Obama was an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet.
That's not the reason I'm on Brown's side. I wouldn't have wanted either gift.
I especially, though, would not have wanted the DVD collection. I don't like to be told what movies I should watch.
What the President should have given the Prime Minister was a Blockbuster gift certificate. Now, that would have been class. That gift would have said, "I trust your taste and your ability to make important choices."
Such messages to foreign leaders, I believe, will go a long way in repairing our trashed international relationships.